October 29, 1996
The Honorable Thomas F. Lee
District Attorney
63rd Judicial District
P.O. Box 1405
Del Rio, Texas 78841
Letter Opinion No. 96-113
Re: Whether the Del Rio Chamber
of Commerce Room Tax Committee is
subject to the Open Meetings Act,
Chapter 551, Government Code
(ID# 38830)
Dear Mr. Lee:
You ask “whether or not the Room Tax Committee, a sub-
committee of the Del Rio Chamber of Commerce, consisting of
members of the Del Rio Chamber of Commerce and one member of
the Del Rio City Council, is subject to the Texas Open
Meetings Act.” [footnote 1] You explain that the city and
the chamber of commerce have contracted for the chamber to
expend a certain percentage of the “room tax” [footnote 2]
collected by the city to advertise and promote tourism to
the city. The Room Tax Committee actually decides to which
advertising or tourism projects the money will be applied.
We believe that this body is not subject to the Open
Meetings Act.
The Open Meetings Act applies to “governmental bodies”
and defines the term “governmental body” to include “a
municipal governing body in the state” and “a deliberative
body that has rulemaking or quasi-judicial power and that is
classified as a department, agency, or political subdivision
of a county or municipality.” Gov't Code §§ 551.001(3)(C),
(3)(D); see also id. §§ 551.001(2) (definition of
“deliberation”), .001(4) (definition of “meeting”). The
body that you describe is not a governmental body at all, it
is basically a committee of the chamber of commerce. The
inclusion of one city council member on the committee does
not transform the body into a governmental body. We
therefore believe that the “room tax committee” is not
subject to the Open Meetings Act. See Attorney General
Opinions DM-7 (1991) at 2 (Parker County Committee on Aging
not subject to act), JM-1072 (1989) at 2 (stating general
rule that local-level entity must fall within definition of
“governmental body” to be covered by act), JM-596 (1986) at
3-4 (nonprofit water supply corporation organized under art.
1434a, V.T.C.S., not subject to act) (result changed by
adoption of provision codified as Gov’t Code § 551.001(3)).
You indicate your familiarity with Letter Opinion No.
93-55 (1993), which concluded that the Greater San Marcos
Chamber of Commerce was not subject to the Open Meetings
Act. We reiterate the caution contained in that opinion
that while a given entity may not be subject to the Open
Meetings Act, it may still be covered by the Open Records
Act, Gov’t Code ch. 552.
S U M M A R Y
A committee of the chamber of commerce that
is expending funds raised by the local hotel
tax under contract with the city is not a
governmental body within the Open Meetings Act.
Yours very truly,
Susan L. Garrison
Assistant Attorney General
Opinion Committee
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FOOTNOTES
[1] You do not ask whether this arrangement is permissible under
the constitution or whether it is in conformity with chapter 351 of the
Tax Code. Therefore we do not address these supplementary issues.
[2] “Room tax” means the local hotel occupancy tax authorized by
chapter 351 of the Tax Code.